I have received your letter of the 11th. As regards
Orthodox’s
P. Scriptum,[4] the majority opinion is being set forth
to you today by Alexei. I disagree with this opinion,
and I (personally) would like to know your view, both of
this P.S. in particular, and of the opinion likewise that it
could supposedly be rejected after the adoption of the whole
article, owing to the “literary defects” in the P. Scriptum.
The “rescue” of the P.S., about which you write, may be
possible if there is a resolute vote by Pavel Borisovich for,
and even then not for certain: the votes will be equally
divided, for Alexei is now almost entirely against.

Generally speaking, I think that on any matter in any
way relating to “controversial” points, you ought to make
a direct inquiry about the reasons for the opinions
expressed by our Struvefreundliche[5]: this could be done by
letters addressed to Lehmann as before (altogether, letters
should now be addressed through to Lehmann) with an
addition “für Meyer” and “for Puttman” I’m afraid I simply
cannot undertake to give an account of their views. This
applies also, for instance, to my article against
R. N. S.[6]

Many thanks for the offer to send material against
Chernov. I have just got on to him, and could probably find
use for what bears on France and Belgium (Vandervelde et
Destrée, Le socialisme en
Belgique,[1]
quoted by Chernov,
and also Vandervelde’s latest
work[7]). But send it only
if you don’t need it, and if you can do without it for a few
weeks. I very much need to have Liebknecht’s Zur
Grundund
Bodenfrage,[2]
which I have failed to find here, either
among Parvus’s books or at the library. If you do have it,
please send it along for a short time.

Chernov quotes someone called Gerolamo Gatti, who is
a downright opponent of the Marxists: Le nuove correnti
dell’economia agricola (Milano-Palermo,
1900).[3]
Do you
know what sort of bird this is? Is he worth reading? Is there
a French translation? (I don’t know Italian, though perhaps
my sister could help.)

[4]
P. Scriptum to Orthodox’s article was written by the author,
L. I. Axelrod, for her article “Why Don’t We Want to Go Back?”,
on N. A. Berdayev’s article “Struggle for Idealism”, which
appeared in the magazine Mir Bozhy (God’s World) No. 6, June
1901. The latter, a liberal, later became a reactionary.

Lenin and G. V. Plekhanov insisted on the publication of
P. Scriptum, but on a majority decision of the Board (Y. O. Martov,
V. I. Zasulich and A. N. Potresov) the article was published
without P. Scriptum in Zarya No. 2–3, December 1901.